Reflections

As The Business Standard quoted in a recent editorial, are we a country for scandal? Is the word “India” getting to be synonymous with scams, scandals and infamy? This is a question every Indian must ask himself – for now things are simply getting out of hand. The scourge of corruption is beginning to impact every level of life and is now beginning to seriously hinder development and the image of Brand India. And yet, the common man, meaning you and me- is totally uncaring and focused on the self. The common man, beyond meaningless platitudes and pointless empty statements condemning corruption, does precisely nothing. By and large, the same man  or woman who condemn our political class and big business for scandals, will be the first to take a shortcut or pay a bribe.  The list of scandals and scams is literally endless – IPL betting and match fixing, Ranbaxy, Telecom 2G scam, Indian Banking system cobrapost sting and money laundering, Satyam, Saradha, Commonwealth Game...

I t is my continuing quest to understand this very topic: why were we partitioned, and was it avoidable? I am currently on my - oh, 18th book -  Bengal Divided: The Unmaking Of A Nation: 1905 - 1971; so I can honestly state that this is a work in progress. I have thought quite a bit about this, and am yet to come to any definitive conclusion. I do not intend to attempt what I cannot do: answer this question. My intention here is to stoke enough questions in the readers' minds, and stoke their own readings on this... Q1) What were the events that led to the inevitability of the partition? In 1905, all of Bengal - and India - rose against the parititon of Bengal; contrast this to 1947, when a communally divided nation split. What changed in 42 short years? For this, we have to peel away the layers of misinformation and preconceived notions that still pervade our minds. It was not such a simple matter; and this is too long a topic to be fully justified in a sub-heading. ...

This is the ninth article of the culture series So far we have seen the linguistic aspect of culture - and how slowly the importance of local languages is being felt again in the rise of the regional news channels, newspapers and literature in the local tongue. In this article I shall look at the most contentious issue - the moral brigade and the clash of the East and the West in our own backyards.  But first, let us establish some percentages, and fix the scale of this entire east-west brouhaha. India has a population of 1.25 billion, or 125 Crores. Of these, it is known that 18.2% are in the age groups of 15-25 years as perIndia Demographics Profile 2013. Furthermore, the total population of the top 50 cities in India is around 8.68 Crores  {List_of_most_populous_cities} - 6.8% of the total population of India. And the 18-25 generation comprises only 1.2% of the total national population in the top 50 cities of India. Even if you add the age groups upto ...

FACT http://www.macroscan.org/anl/mar08/pdf/farmers_suicides.pdf In the ten year period between 1997 and 2006 as many as 166,304 farmers committed suicide in India. (See Table 1 below). If we consider the 12 year period from 1995 to 2006 the figure is close to 200,000: the exact figure (190,753) would be an underestimation since a couple of major states like Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan and a number of smaller states like Pondicherry did not report any farmers’ suicides for one or the other – or both - of these two years. Thus, going by the official data, on average nearly 16,000 farmers committed suicide every year over the last decade or so. It is also clear from the table that every seventh suicide in the country was a farm suicide. http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2012-014.pdf "According to NSS 2003 data, the monthly consumption of marginal farmers was Rs.2482 and  monthly income was Rs.1659 (Table 14 and Fig 4.1). It shows that they have dis-savings...

“ There is no one out there reading your story. There is no one who will take a step because of your story. It is just a numb, self-absorbed world that is slowly consuming itself, from light to darkness, from darkness to darkness” – Kota Neelima in Shoes of the Dead Although these words are from a fiction novel on farmer suicides, they could well be a factual statement of India today, of the uncaring and comatose educated classes that comprise the cities and towns of India. This is not just about farmer suicides – but about everything. Just about everything. Our sickening carelessness and chalta hai attitude, our selfish I-Me-Myself approach, our total disregard for our duties as citizens… our total inaction, and indeed collusion, in corruption is a case in point.  Words fail me… I am searching for words for perhaps the first time in my life at this uncaring attitude of Indian Citizens. The total disregard for the massive challenges that face India today- corruption, ene...

This is the seventh article in the culture series I n the previous article:  http://reflectionsvvk.blogspot.in/2013/04/cultural-backlash-1-language-issue.html  we had looked at the language aspect of the backlash - and how the vernacular is making a strong comeback. This article carries on from there and examines the backlash in literature and culture. This article has been penned largely because of a facebook chat between Manreet Sodhi Someshwar {Author - The Taj Conspiracy}  and myself; it was her idea that enabled me to take this series forward...  When I refer to literature here, I am referring to the reading habits of the common man as I have observed in book stores across India - what books are purchased or browsed, and what is the range available. Being a bookaholic, a book store is among the first places I visit in any new city. And, considering that online stores contribute only 12% of book sales, this can be taken as representative.  Cir...

The latest from the pen  of Dan Brown – Inferno -  is, in my opinion, his best work – including The Da Vinci Code. While The Da Vinci Code used a combination of religion and fast-paced narrative, the book under review manages to hold its own without the additional support from our core beliefs, or our curiosity. This one does not incite controversy, and is yet a superbly fast-paced thriller.  THE PLOT It is very, very different from The Da Vinci Code or The Lost Symbol in just about every way imaginable. There are no dead bodies in the first 10 pages from where the story picks up. Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with retrograde amnesia. He remembers his name, his entire life, remembers having nightmares of hell, and people being tortured in hell – but can recall nothing from the past few days.   He has been shot in the head – and the assassin traces  him to the hospital, forcing him to flee, aided by a young lady Doctor Sienna Brooks. His only...

Image courtesy: The Economic TImes Now add one or two other little tit-bits of information that make the picture complete... first, the rising incidence of stress and mental ill-health, as was brought out on a recent report on the IT industry - and second, the rising family tensions and divorce rates. Add the two - and you have the makings of a shakespearean tragedy. I am making an extremely bold move in this article - openly criticizing these matters while being a member of corporate India. But something will have to be done; I dont know whether this small contribution will help or not... Look at the data: this is the company perspective presented. Employees are facing excessive work pressure and longer hours - and 36-38% of companies accept this. If you ask the employees  - especially in private- this number is likely to double - or more. This is also far higher in India than elsewhere. Thus, this is a local phenomenon. Most critically, look at the most damning com...